Brad Bergesen knew he didn't wow anybody on Saturday, but he wasn't going to let a so-so performance in his second Grapefruit League start ruin his weekend. He needed 21 pitches to get through the first inning and gave up three runs after getting the first two outs of the second, but he settled down in the third and the Orioles got him off the hook before settling for a 4-4 tie with the Boston Red Sox before the biggest baseball crowd (8,229) in the history of Ed Smith Stadium. "Obviously, to have two outs and two strikes and give up a three-spot isn't what you want to do," he said.

New Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette has been working this week to bolster his front office, and now, at least theoretically, he'll have another hole to fill. Matt Klentak, the club's 31-year-old director of baseball operations, accepted an assistant general manager position with the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. He will be working directly with new Angels GM Jerry Dipoto, who interviewed in October for the Orioles' top executive job that eventually went to Duquette earlier this month.

Vladimir Guerrero Angels right fielder He has hit safely in all 40 career games against the Rangers, the longest streak against one team in the era of divisional play. Royals Their third inning lasted two minutes, as the Tigers' Justin Verlander used seven pitches to get three groundball outs.

Braves: Tony Graffanino started in place of Keith Lockhart, who fouled a ball off his right knee Friday.Dodgers: Gary Sheffield didn't start for the second straight game because of a jammed right thumb, sustained while sliding headfirst into a base Thursday.Expos: Vladimir Guerrero has hit safely in 16 of his past 17 games. His brother, Wilton, has hit safely in 12 of 13 since coming to Montreal in a trade with Los Angeles.Pub Date: 8/16/98

Sitting at his locker on Monday night, Orioles designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero told reporters (through interpreter Rudy Arias) that he didn't know until the Toronto series two weeks ago that he was on the verge of passing Julio Franco to become the all-time MLB career hits leader among Dominican-born players. But Guerrero is well aware that he is a few hundred hits away from joining the 3,000-hit club. After his rally-starting single off Josh Beckett in Monday night's 6-3 win over the Boston Red Sox, Guerrero has 2,587 hits in 16 years in the major leagues.

The Orioles keep dismissing the spoiler angle, stressing there is no burning desire to beat contenders down the stretch. Ultimately, in the final stanza of another disappointing season, these victory-starved Orioles simply want to win, no matter whom they play. It just so happens that their recent triumphs are coming against clubs fighting for the postseason, like Tuesday's 7-5 comeback against the Boston Red Sox. "Just the situation they are in and our situation, it's a little added bonus," said first baseman Mark Reynolds, who had two hits, including a two-run single, in his first game since getting plunked in the head Saturday.

Designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero didn't hit cleanup for the Orioles on Thursday night, but it had nothing to do with his waning production in the first half. Guerrero came into the clubhouse Thursday afternoon still feeling discomfort in his right hand, were he was hit with a pitch by the Boston Red Sox's Kyle Weiland on Sunday. "He came in about 1:30 and said he needed another day, pretty sore," Showalter said. Guerrero was struck in the hand in the fifth inning and left Sunday's game — at the time, that concerned Showalter.

TV baseball has been one of the great pleasures of my adult life. Coming home at 8 or 9 p.m. after a long day of covering a media world that has gone nasty and mad, I would click on MASN's coverage of the Baltimore Orioles the way some folks might pour themselves a glass of wine. Hearing analyst Jim Palmer explain for the 10,000th time that "baseball is game of adjustments" had the same soothing effect for me that I expect hearing the litany of the saints or the saying of the rosary has for some devout Catholics.

Just about a year ago, when the Orioles were in town to play the Texas Rangers in the series prior to the All-Star Break, Buck Showalter was contemplating whether he should return to the game as Orioles manager. He even had a clandestine meeting near Dallas with Andy MacPhail , the club's president of baseball operations, while the Orioles were in the midst of sweeping the Rangers in a four-game series. When the Orioles played at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Monday night for the first time since that fateful meeting, Showalter was in the visiting dugout.

It has become a trend that these Orioles appear powerless to break: the starter puts the team in an early hole, the bullpen is called on far earlier than should be necessary and the offense squanders numerous opportunities to get back in the game. The names and circumstances change on a nightly basis, but the results certainly do not. The Orioles, who got a short and ineffective outing from Chris Jakubauskas and another punchless performance by the offense, are a season-high seven games under .500 after a 5-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night before an announced 17,405 at Camden Yards.

Orioles designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero picked up his 2,500th career hit with an RBI double Thursday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays. His 2,501st may come as a pinch-hitter. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he would speak to Guerrero on the flight home Thursday about Guerrero's role in the next six games, which will be played in National League parks without the option of using the DH. A final decision has not yet been made, Showalter said. But Guerrero won't be starting Friday against the Washington Nationals and it's likely he won't start most, if any, of those games in the outfield against the Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Maybe it's going through customs, having to exchange currency or playing under a retractable roof, but things are seemingly always off-kilter for the Orioles whenever they travel north of the border. Life in Canada was no different Tuesday, as the Toronto Blue Jays allowed the Orioles to crawl back before winning, 6-5, in 11 innings on Adam Lind's game-ending homer that bounced off the facade under the third level in right field. The homer came on the second pitch of the 11th from Koji Uehara (1-1)